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Saturday, December 31, 2016

2016: A Roundup

Started 2016
with a resolution to revive my near-dormant. The plan was to watch 100 movies
(#100MoviePact) and write at least 100 words about each movie watched. Happy to
report that I hit the target (110 movies!) but didn’t write after the first
thirty-six.

As I
usually do, here is a roundup of 2016… the things I loved the most. Listing
them alphabetically…

Afreen afreen

Many years
back, we used to play the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan song at our b-school parties and
get on our knees, dancing around a batchmate and embarrassing the hell out of
her. The reprise – featuring Nusrat’s talented nephew – is almost as magical.

I have been
in Bangalore for a little more than a year now and have not ceased to marvel at
this bookstore. As social media laments the closure of bookstores all over,
Blossoms not only survived but managed a new branch just down the road from
their original outlet. Both store have mindboggling range, chaotic displays,
helpful staff and a genuine desire to sell books.

Clinton, Hillary Rodham

It is now
fashionable to say she was the wrong candidate to be pitted against Donald
Trump but for all the charges you can throw at HRC, there was no doubt she was
simply the best-prepared candidate to run for the US President. She did many
things right but I loved for this one tweet (that came after she lost)… which
is still pinned to the top of her Twitter page.

Dangal

An
important character is unable to watch a critical wrestling match in the film.
As he sits helplessly in a room, he suddenly gets to hear the first strains of
the national anthem. As he realizes the significance (only the gold medallists
are honoured by playing their anthems), he stands up – almost as reflex – as do
cinema halls across the country. Much has been said in praise of Dangal but
writer-director Nitesh Tiwari won it for me when he made me stand up in this
scene.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

For fans of
the seven legendary books, this was like the highlights package of an epic
World Cup victory with some bonus DVD features thrown in. Many fans didn’t like
it. Many were disappointed that it was a script (dudes, read up on JKR!). But I
loved it. Time travel and alternate histories – always the theme of satisfying
stories – didn’t disappoint this time either.

Jeffrey Archer

With two
books of the Clifton Chronicles bringing the saga to a satisfying close, Jeffrey
Archer managed to reaffirm his position as the number one storyteller of our
times. His Harry Clifton turned out to be that perfect English gentleman who
would be missed long after he is gone.

Kapoor & Sons

This –
along with Phogat & Daughters – was the movie of the year for me. A difficult
story of a dysfunctional family soared and uplifted me with a crackling script.
Established stars, established actors and an established producer came together
to make us really look forward to the forthcoming works of Shakun Batra, who
became an established director with his film.

At the
beginning of the year, I had promised myself that I’d watch a few films at a
film festival. I fulfilled that promise by spending three days at the MAMI Film
Festival, watching nine films – including five on day one. A Chinese (Old Stone),
Japanese (After the Rain) and an Arabic (Barakah Meets Barakah) film stand out
from what I watched as did a nostalgic reunion of the stars of my
teen-favourite, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. What I really enjoyed was the unplanned
forays into unknown films, rushing from one screening to the queue for another,
gasping at particularly felicitous moves on screen and occasionally dozing off
(!) during not-so-interesting ones.

Planning to
do Kolkata International Film Festival in 2017.

Nasir Husain

One of my
favourite directors got an authoritative biography – Music Masti Modernity –
that caught the magic of his cinema through a thoughtful lens. Drawing
extensively from past interviews as well as fresh interviews of his family and colleagues,
MMM shows how well-researched and readable books on cinema can really be.

Pink

Amitabh
Bachchan played – with his customary aplomb – a mentally unbalanced lawyer
fighting for three victims of sexual abuse. His mental affliction was probably symbolic
of the disadvantages anyone taking up a cause like this faces in our country.
Bachchan and the three actresses made a slogan out of ‘No means no’ and one
wonders if this line is half as effective as Bachchan’s other clarion call for
polio (‘Do boond zindagi ki’), he should be given all the public service awards
– in addition to the acting ones.

Produnova, PV Sindhu
An unknown Russian gymnast became the talisman of a billion (exaggerating here, but it's okay) people as people stayed awake cheering a girl from Tripura make her mark at the highest sporting stage of the world.
PV Sindhu suddenly showed us how badminton can be the next big thing in India - short matches, lots of drama, glamorous adversaries and a fair bit of talent.
They didn't win but hey, we waited 28 years for a second World Cup in cricket. Surely, we can wait (ahem) four years for the other sports.

Raman Raghav 2.0

I don’t
think I will have the stomach to watch this film again but will remember it –
along with Ugly and Gulaal – as part of Anurag Kashyap’s Underrated Trilogy. It
was somewhat expected that RR2.0 won’t set the box office on fire but somehow,
it didn’t even managed to get a lot of fanboy praise.

Yasser
Usman followed up on his biography of Rajesh Khanna with an equally readable
book on Rekha. Rekha’s heady life in Madras and then Bombay has been chronicled
with a rare balance that is usually missing Bollywood biographies. Rekha is a
polarising character and this book does a great job is looking at her life from
the multiple perspectives.

Sultan of Delhi – Ascension

The first
part of the saga of a
gun-runner-turned-Emergency-era-fixer-turned-Delhi-mover-and-shaker took the pulp
fiction saga template – underdog rising to the top of his profession – and gave
it a solidly desi twist. The book ends tantalizingly, with the promise of a sequel
coming up next year.

Udta Punjab

I don’t know
if I am including Udta Punjab the soundtrack or the movie. As a music album, it
was fantastic – a heady mix of the crazy and the soft – picking up the flavours
of Punjab and created a modern soundtrack around it. The movie was studded with
some fantastic performances, most notably Shahid Kapoor.

2016 wasn't the greatest of years, maybe for the world at large. It wasn't too bad, for me personally.

I guess it was the 'could have been better' kind of year. Hoping to get into 2017 with a lot more reading, a lot more writing, a little less movie watching (110 was too much!) and a lot more fun-having.

Happy 2017.
Like the number, may the year also be a prime one of your life!